10.4 Comfortable and Ascetic

The former Peer of Hazrat Moulana Shah Abdur Raheem Saheb Raipuri, who was the Khaleefah of Aakhun Saheb Wilaayati and the namesake of Hazrat Shah Saheb, would show great affection for Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi. When Hazrat went to meet him in Saharanpur then upon Hazrat’s request for du’aa he said:
“May Allah Ta’ala keep your body comfortable and heart ascetic.”

Through the grace of Allah Ta’ala his entire life passed like that. What favour did Haq Ta’ala not bestow him with! Among the favours, one was that physical ailments bestowed to him would not hamper his work in any way. [Physical sickness is also a bounty or blessing in disguise from Allah Ta’ala. The Hadeeth mentions great thawaab in the Aakhirat for one who undergoes physical hardships in this world. Sickness being a bounty can readily be understood in the light thereof. This, off course, is conditional to a person not bringing sickness and disease upon himself by indulging in haraam and mushtabah, and in over-indulging in halaal.]

In spite of hernia, for thirty consecutive years he travelled for wa’z and tableegh. Deterioration in the sickness was simply for this reason that the Divine Will was for him to take the seat of Qutbul Irshaad [the principle position of Deeni guidance, by being stationed in a particular place].

Another ailment was head fever due to which his sleep would mainly be disturbed and nights upon nights would pass in that state. But then he would find so much sleep that all the pain would go away.

According to Hazrat, in the case of sleeplessness his head temperature would become more intense with the result that he would work more vigorously. This was the product of the body being wealthy; that in spite of his physical ailment his was not harmed and the reward ever increased.

Like that through the Fazl of Allah Ta’ala his health was remarkably good. Through the barkat of this, Hazrat accomplished centuries of work in a matter of years. The mind is astounded! Was this the work of just one working man! Such an example can rarely be found. And the beauty is that he would carry out many tasks at once. For instance, his recitation by heart [of the Qur’aan-e-Kareem] would continue, he would attend to correspondence, sometimes daily and sometimes on alternate days, he would reflect over intricate masaail and he would solve the problems of the seekers of spiritual purification

Furthermore, the state of his body being wealthy is clear from this as well that, sicknesses from which others would take months to recover, he would recover from such sicknesses in a few days. His wonderful health was so talked about that one Moulana said to the author of Ashrafus Sawaanih:
“Moulana [Thanwi] is aware of some magic potion which he uses and his health, Masha Allah, remains excellent. You should find out the magic potion.”

He [the author of Ashrafus Sawaanih, Khaajah Azeezul Hasan Saheb Majzoob] thus brought this question before Hazrat. Hazrat laughed and said:
“It is actually utter devotion. Come I tell you of that magic potion. That magic potion is Ta’alluq Ma’Allah [a bond with Allah Ta’ala] whereby all the time the heart finds strength and serenity and one feels happy and joyous, and this is the secret to good health.”